The Messenger

Author

File Description

Zambaman

Posted on 01/17/01 @ 12:00 AM

File Details

Version:

The Conquerors

Style:

Role Playing Only

A man is on his way back to deliver a message to his king, a message that reveals the kings "shady" side. Throughout the journey back, he travels through many a place, and meets many a person, until he finds out the truth of the message, and finds out there is more than meets the eye to the king.....

This is a single scenario, based around the "Messenger", which you control.

If you decide to download this scenario, then please read the "readme" file. Also, if you would be kind enough to write a review, it would be appreciated, very much so.

While it is no timeless classic "Messenger to the king" does show a lot of potential. With time zambaman may become one of the better scenario designers, if only he would spend more time to polish his work.

While zambaman shows that he understands basic RPG elements, the playability of his scenario could use much improvement. For one, the grammar and spelling could use some proofreading at times. The main problem in the area of playability is that depending on the game speed, many of his "display instructions" triggers come too quickly and flash by on the screen. A few triggers were faulty as well: for example the main character never gets the weapons/armor upgrade he is supposed to from the blacksmith. Overall, the scenario lacked the zest and originality to capture my interest. The saving graces in this category would be his use of a few puzzles and interesting touches.

The scenario was quite well balanced and almost flawless in that area. Enough opposition is created that the player must choose an alternative style of going through areas. The siege at the end is perhaps a little one sided, and could have been fine tuned to give more of a challenge.

While much of the scenario was rather boring in the creative sense, some elements were introduced that come into play in this category: for instance the transporting cathedrals and the generated battle in the middle. However, other than these few elements, the scenario left me feeling that much more could have been done creatively. Zambaman creates many opportunities to introduce something spectacular but didn't always follow through.

In all honesty, the map did not impress me at all. The cliffs looked completely unrealistic because for some reason they had been cut off in a straight line instead of ending the way ES intended for them to. I don't really understand the creator's intentions with the cliffs: all I can say that it was much of a downer to see this flaw in the scenario. There was little use of eye candy and the terrain looked slightly contrived and lacked flow. Zambaman would do well to work on his terrain editing skills: even a slightly more natural look would have generated an improved experience and score.

While the story is quite run of the mill (loyal hero becomes disillusioned and rebels) the instructions were quite clear and the hints were helpful. However, once again, a portion of the dialogue or plot advancement was destroyed by poorly timed triggers that flashed the text too quickly. He did not recommend a speed setting either, which might have helped the flow of dialogue. In addition, I'm not so sure that objectives such as "kill the king" or "get the guy some explosives" are appropriate to a game set in this time period.

While I would not recommend spending a large amound of time on this scenario, I would suggest looking forward to zambaman's future productions, as his scenario shows much potential for all its lack of finesse.

The Downward SpiralOfficial Reviewer

Posted on 01/20/01 @ 12:00 AM

Rating

3.8

Breakdown

Playability

4.0

Balance

4.0

Creativity

4.0

Map Design

3.0

Story/Instructions

4.0

I disagree with the previous reviewer's score. Although the scenario was nothing spectacular trigger-wise, the author took a map with no triggers and still made it a blast. The Messenger is a pretty average scenario.

The Messenger was a pretty fun scenario. I could see myself playing it a couple times; its an "easy-going" and relaxing scenario but still fun. The balance was pretty good. You had to stop and heal up every now and then before you could go much further... but hey, it was a challenge. Creativity? I liked the idea of having to run through enemy lines to return a message to the king. The map design reminded me of a random map. Therefore, I scored it with a three. The story/instructions were good. The story and plot twist was awesome, but I found myself lost as to where to go at times. Maybe a walkthrough would be nice in the Hints section.

Well thats it. Its a pretty decent scenario. Probably my score and the past reviewer's score combined is a more suitable score. Good job on the pretty good scenario! Although a few areas could be improved upon, the author has a great potential.